[Megathread] Infestation: Survivor Stories (The War Z)

So... i saw some threads flying around but i decided it might be a good idea to make a thread that keeps getting updated on the newly announced game The War Z

This thread will be updated nonstop with the newest facts/videos and screenshots later on when new information is released il try and group information up so it looks a bit clean and nice for you to read.

* Big open worlds to explore between 200 to 400 square kilometers
* Two modes of play: Normal and Hardcore
* Combination of first-person and third-person perspectives
* Meld of PvE (player versus environment) and PvP (player versus player)
* Strong Role Playing Elements
* Multiple playable characters with customizable features
* Unique social elements, including bounties, help requests, trap setting, etc.
* Safe settlements where players can purchase, sell and store items as well as post notes for other players
* Dozens of unique skills that can be learned and improved
* Up to 250 players per game server
* New weapons and items become available as players explore the game world
* Full developer support with regularly scheduled, free content updates
* Dedicated public servers as well as private servers that can be completely self-managed in game client
* Single purchase, downloadable client with ability to play full game without subscriptions or requiring in-game transactions

WHEN WILL THE GAME BE RELEASED?
We're planning to officially launch the game this fall.

WHEN WILL YOU START CLOSED BETA?
We're planning on starting closed beta by end of summer.

HOW CAN I GET IN THE BETA?
register for the closed Beta on the website (http://www.thewarz.com). We will be selecting people that are active on the official forums, official Facebook page and helping to grow the community. We also will be offering early guaranteed access to the closed beta to everyone that preorders the game.

FIRST ZOMBIE MMO

The War Z is the world's first survival mmo Zombie Game. You may have played Zombie Games before - now it's time to live one.

It's been five years since the outbreak; leaving in its wake a post-apocalyptic nightmare with ninety-five percent of the human population gone. In order to stay alive, you will need food, weapons, and other supplies. Some of you will be able to scavenge as you navigate the terrain, others will be forced to fight for survival as you encounter zombies and other players. Every decision will have an impact on whether you live or how quickly you die.

NEW GENERATION OF MMO

Forget subscriptions, forget paid DLC and expansion packs.

The War Z is as simple as this - once you install the game to your computer, you will be able to get into the game quickly and play without worrying about subscription fees, no hidden fees, and no paid updates. All updates will be seamlessly delivered to you free of charge when they're released.

Add AAA graphics and effects mixed with the ability to run even on integrated video cards or low end laptops and you have a unique, fun, experience that is available to everyone.

HUGE PERSISTANT WORLD

[I]Choose one of the hundreds of servers to play on.
Each Zombie Game world has an area of up to 400 square kilometers.
As more worlds become available, just switch between them at any time, without losing your character's data, or paying any "world transfer fees".

Start playing in our first world "Colorado", today, and prepare yourself to join other gameplay locations scattered around the world as we release more and more content.[/SIZE]

NO CLASSES, NO LEVELS AND LEVEL CAPS

Create your own survival experience by selecting one of the available characters, customizing them and helping them to navigate through hostile world of The War Z.
Gain experience and spend it to learn dozens of available skills in this Zombie Game.

NO CLASSES AND RESTRICTIONS, NO LEVELS, OR UNREALISTIC STAT MODIFICATIONS.

Your goal is to survive this Zombie Game and the ones that survive longest will be victorious!

EXPLORE, SCAVENGE, KILL, SURVIVE

As you progress through this Zombie Game, exploring what happened, you will find notes and diaries that NPCs and other players left for you. These will have hints to the whereabouts of supplies and weapons you will need to survive.

The War Z is an open world Zombie Game; as you explore and immerse yourself in this post-apocalyptic world you'll discover more than you ever imagined.

You will find yourself hiding from zombies and other players;
exploring hidden parts of the map and discovering hidden
stashes throughout your journey.

PLAY WITH FRIENDS

It's not easy to stay in touch with your friends in most games. This has been a key feature of War Z Zombie Game from the beginning. You are able to create a group, with friends, and then automatically join the same Zombie Game server together.
You will also have the option to rent and manage custom servers without leaving the Zombie Game. Players can create either public or private servers, allocating reserved slots to their friends or group members.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Screenshots

Character Customization:When you create your character you'll be able to choose from several available characters, and once you've chosen character you'll be able to select different heads and hairstyles, and styles for lower and upper body parts.

Here's example of one of the female characters - while as you can see it features different styles, you can mix and match parts between those characters to create your own unique looking survivor

On top of that you'll be able accessorize your characters with different pieces of head gear ( hats, scary looking masks, googles, etc ) and also if you lucky find vests or custom made armor pieces. Those pieces can be either found in a world, or bought right away in marketplace.

When you start playing game, you'll have couple characters unlocked and available for your use right away. You can unlock more characters AND/OR new skins for those characters by either spending EXPERIENCE points or GOLD COINS.

Here's important difference between those two - experience is something you gain while surviving in a world, killing zombies, exploring world and new locations, helping other player. You can them spend earned experience points to either train your character to learn new skills, or to unlock new characters.

Gold coins on other hand you can only get by either finding them in a world ( very very rare ) or by hunting down special mutant zombies, retrieving their stem cells and sell those stem cells ( that can be used to create anti zombie virus vaccine ) at safe settlement's stores.

So we basically give you two options -one is less risky, but will take longer time to do, or faster one but extremely risky one. Choice is yours.

What is difference between Harcode and Normal gameplay modes?

When you create new survivor you must select one the two gameplay modes - Normal and Hardcore. Once mode selected and character have been created you won't be able to change play mode.

Both normal and Hardcore characters will be playing on same servers, and there'll be no visual differences between those characters. Ie - you can't say who's playing Hardcore or Normal just by looking on them.

There'll be special servers that are reserved for Hardcore survivors only. Those servers will be exactly same as other public servers, but they will feature spawns of rare weapons and items, not available on "mixed" servers.

There'll be separate leaderboards for Normal and Hardcore characters. This will ensure that players who choose to play in Hardcore mode will be rewarded for their dedication.

Main difference between two modes comes at how death of the character is handled. In both modes when you die, you lose your backpack. But in case of Hardcore mode your death will be also permanent for your character - ie character with all of his stats, etc will be deleted. You'll have to create new character and start from the beginning - spawning at initial zones, with all skills/trainings gone, etc.

Normal characters on other hand will be just put into "lockdown" for certain period of time - we're testing how long it'll be, for now that time is set to 24 hours of real world time. Once "revived" your character will be able to continue to play from approximately same location where he died, all hist skills/stats will remain same.

We're discussing right now if there'll be other differences between those two game modes, and here's list of what we want to try ( but not sure if it'll go into final game or not ) :

Other Hardcore mode features :
- Gain Experience faster
- gun crosshair is not rendered, ie need to use aim mode and real ironsights or optics to aim
- Information about how many bullets left in magazine is not displayed
- slightly different Skill Tree
- 3rd Person is not available to those playing Hardcore.

Marketplace, in game currencies, game economy. Is game Pay 4 win ?

Two most discussed topics we've seen been about Skill Systems and Merketplace. We'll address Skill Trees in our next post, and for right now lets discuss how Marketplace works.

While we understand that idea of having Marketplace in a survival game may looks like evil thing, we've designed it to make sure that it's presence won't introduce unfair advantage to some players. Here's some facts that will help you to understand how Marketplace works :

1) Lets start with fact that none of powerful balance changing items are available in Marketplace - ie you can't buy for example bigger backpacks or guns.

2) Most of the items that are sold in Marketplace are sold for in game currency, that can't be bought using real world money. Ie - before you'll be able to purchase most of the items in Marketplace, you'll have to FIND "dollars" in a game world. so when you start game, you just can't buy anything from Marketplace.

3) Items that are available for Gold Coins ( only currency that you can both obtain by playing game or by buying using real world money ) are mostly cosmetic items like Hats, character appearance customizations, things like chem lights, flares, etc - ie something that can enhance your visual game experience, but will not give you advantage in a game world. There're very few items that sold for GC that are equivalent to items that can be found in a game world, but they are not adding any disbalance to the game ( yes, yes we've checked ).

4) Marketplace doesn't offer some rare items, that can only be found in a game world.

Skill Trees and Training

Lets talk about how Skill Trees, Training and Experience works.

As you'll be exploring game world, killing zombies ( if you're lucky ) or other players ( if that's what you want ), doing other things in a game, you'll be accumulating Experience Points. You can spend Experience Points to unlock new characters OR to improve your existing characters - TRAIN them.

Training is done by spendin Experience Points to unlock Skill Tree NODES. Each Node will either affect some of your stats, or will lern your character to do new things ( for example learn how to apply bandages more effectively ).

Stats modification are only affecting stats that can be trained in real life - for example your character will be able to sprint for longer time, or he'll be able to carry slightly more weight. But it won't affect stats like your health - after all we don't want to make you super hero. It will affect how fast you can reload gun, but it won't change damage that gun does.

Here's some preliminary design of Skill Tree to give you idea of how it may look like. Please note that nodes have different colors. Each color correspondent to specific AREA of expertise - like Physical training, weapons training , medical skills, survival skills, etc.

HUD explained.

Quick update on current HUD state.

1. Time and Date. We have universal time/date across all servers, with "starting" date around October 15 2018. Right now day/night cycle is set to be around 4 hours, but we'll be adjusting that during closed beta test to find value that will fit best.

3. Food and water levels, Health meter, your stamina meter ( only visible when running ) and your blood toxicity meter ( if you got infected ). As you can see I'm really dehydrated right now and I'll be losing health every few seconds if I won't drink something soon.

4. You Primary weapon, melee weapon ( you can have both equipped at same time ) and four of "quick slots" in your backpack. Quick slots are accessible by pressing keys 3,4,5,6 ( default layout ). You can equip any item that can be used on yourself or other players.

5. If you have firearm equipped it'll show how many bullets left in magazine, how many magazines you have, and what current fire mode is ( can be semi auto, 3 burts, full auto - some weapons just have one mode, some have different modes ).

As you can see I'm playing in Hardcore mode so there're now crosshairs on the screen.

UI - Inventory System

We'll cover Inventory system today. First of all - I've censored part of the image that contain some debug information.

To get to inventory you can either press hotkey ( 'I' by default ) or by pressing ESC to get to pause menu and selecting "INVENTORY" tab.

Content of the inventory screen depends on type of backpack you're using. You'll start with really small backpack that can only hold 8 unique items. Please note that as you can see some items can be stacked, so lets say if you have 10 magazines for your gun or 10 bandages, they'll take just one slot.

When you'll find new backpack in a world, you'll be able to change your current backpack to new one. Old backpack will become just and object in a world, so you can still carry it in yout backpack ( ie it'll take one slot ) and use for trade or something. When you press CHANGE BACKPACK buutton it'll show you what other backpacks you have in your current backpack or in your global inventory ( this option is only available in Safe settlements ). As you can see I don't have any other backpacks available.

On top part of the screen you see four "hard" slots reserved for certain type of items. Those are slots that shows what's equipped on your character. First slot if for guns, second is for melee weapons, third is for vests, armor ( if you lucky to find one ) and head gear.

Below you see information about weight you currently carry and maximum weight your character can carry. Those numbers doesn't depend on type of backpack you're using - they're depends on your character TRAINING.

Below that are four "hot slots" - ones you see in your quick access bar in HUD.

You can move items between slots by justa dragging and dropping them whereever you want them. If you want to to some action with item you can acees "USE" menu for item by right mouse clicking on items icon.

content of this menu varies between items - as you can see in case of vaccine I can either use it or drop it. Since I have only one vaccine shot, there's no option for "mass drop" - ie if you'll have for example 10 items and want to drop them at one - you'll have special menu option for that.

The following picture has been released, and will give you a small idea of how the first map "Colorado" will look like, This map size is pretty comfortable for up to 130+ players. At 200+ players, you'll be able to meet other players every 15-20 minutes of playing game.

This screenshot shows pretty much 90% of the map. distance from the camera to far mountains in the center of the screen is around 11-13km ( 6.6 to 7.8 US miles ). All area except for snow peak mountains on the edge of the map are playable. Ie you're getting around 160-170km of playable terrain comparing to 225 sql km of Chernorus ( keep in mind that large chunk of chernorus map is a sea ).

For all those people that will respond with "The map is so small" it takes 2-3 hours to traverse a map of 13 km long (if walking at a normal speed). So don't worry, I'm sure it will be good.

The developers saw a massive QQ fest going on, so they decided to show the last 10% of the map, picture below!

Three cities are shown here - in a lower right part of the image there is a city you've seen in alpha gameplay trailer. Center top of the screen - one of the largest cities on this map - mostly highrises. So its starting to look better and better, and currently it looks like its a small bunch of cities/towns surrounded by jungle and mountains where you can find shelter etc.

What is STRONGHOLD ?
To put it simply it's just a fancy name for a custom tailored server rentals. Our goal is to separate "gameworld" server rentals - ie when you rent server with 50-200 slots and choose one of the maps ( okay for now we have only one map available - COLORADO ), and "small worlds" - something more intimate for you, your friends, clan, etc to make this mini world your own home base.

How I can rent Stronghold ?
When you click PLAY GAME, you'll see two buttons - MY SERVERS and MY STRONGHOLDS. On My Strongholds screen you'll see all available stronghold maps. There you'll be able to choose map, duration ( 1,3,6,12 months ) and number of slots ( 15,30,45 ). Survivor and Legend packages comes with 1 and 6 months of hosting for 15 slots. Discount will be applied automatically first time you rent stronghold server.

What are those maps ?
They're much smaller maps - typically around 3-4 square kilometers in size with 1-2 "settlements" per map. Those "settlements" are planned to act as home base - for either single player or group of players. There're zombies spawned on outskirts of the map - so they're generally not a threat on those maps. But ! you can lure them into settlement.

Is there any loot on Stronghold maps ?
There're few loot spawn locations, but loot is slightly different from what you'll get on main gameworld maps - very basic food items plus some unique "building" materials "local" to this stronghold map. We want to encourage players that runs different stronghold maps to barter with other players, eschanging building "blocks" that can be used to modify your map.

What can I do on the Stronghold map
Short answer - whaterver you want. Lure other players into traps and kill then. Create a farm, farm food and sell it to other players. Create "safe heaven" for other players to just hang out. It's all basically restricted by your imagination.

Can I create my own business using Stronghold map ?
Wow ! Didn't thought about it, but technically yes nothing prevent you from doing that.

Q: Are there Generators ingame to make lights on in the night?? for bases?
A: No

Q: How is this The WarZ going to be better than other zombie survival simulations? (Regarding to DayZ.)
A: It’ll be AWESOME !

Q: How many and what sniper rifles will be in the game?
A: I think we have around 6 right now. More will be added later.

Q: Why didnt sergeytitov buy legend?
A: I don't need in game currency or stronghold map hosting - I already have shit load of GC, and I can rent as many servers as I need.

Q: What vehicles will there be during the alpha release on the 15th?
A: Vehicles will be available after we're satisfied with CBT progress - ie not earlier than late November.

Q: Will there be Blood from Shots?
A: Yes we have that right now

Q: Will there be additions to the HUD, rather than just food/drink/health?
A: Not sure, so far what you see on the screen is what we have in a game. If we going to adsd some new features that will require HUD changes, we'll do that.

Q: What time can we expect to be playing (EST) on the 15th?
A: We're on PST time ( GMT -8 ) so game will go live sometime afternoon PST.

Q: Will there be simpler/more common range weapons in game. IE civilian grade weapons, hunting rifles, etc?
A: YES ! We used really advanced weapons in a videos - not exactly representation of what you'll be able to find easily in a game

Q: Will the game client be available to download before the 15th to avoid crashing the servers?
A: He forgot to post an answer... or he's uncertain

Q: Will private servers be limited to loot drops in any way?
A: they will lack really rare items - for that you'll have to go to public servers. NOW - by private you mean "password protected" right ? Because unless you're password protected your server it'll be considered public.

Q: Do you have to go to safe settlements to access the marketplace?
A: YES

Q: Will a group of people/clan/guild be abel to officialy claim for example a structure on a server ?
A: No, you can't CLAIM something - you can capture structure and HOLD it, but it won't be marked anywhere as owned by your group.

Q: Will there be club hourses/safe houses for clans? Where they can store items they have looted?
A: You can rent STRONGHOLD servers for that

Q: I just wanted to know if you will ever add something like when your character dies from body shots and was infected will they get up as a zombie?
A: Lots of folks including ones on dev team asking for that feature, but I can tell you - we like it, but considering amount of work involved it's not going to happen anytime soon.

Q: Will you be able to customise the looks of the first 3 characters, e.g faces and hair etc.?
A: Yes, each have 3-5 variations for each of head, upper body and lower body parts.

Q: Will WarZ use the same engine as League of Legends ?
A: No. I was Technical Director at Riot, licensed graphics rendering engine for Riot, designed Riot's own gameplay engine, but it have nothing to do with what War Z is using. War Z is using engine called Eclipse designed by internal engine team of Arktos Entertainment. Arktos licensed engine
as part of investment deal to several companies - including developer of War Inc ( Online Warmongers Group ) and War Z ( Hammerpoint Interactive ).

Q: If i buy the pre order, i can use the same serial to activate the game in Steam?
A: We're not sure yet.

Q: Why are you putting your focus on the Cash Shop for this alpha release instead of the gameplay?
A: We're not putting focus on cash shop at all, not sure how you come to this conclusion.

Q: how many characters are there in the game?
A: 4 by now, 8 more are coming soon.

Q: How are zombies going to react to water (If there is any) Will they swim or be able to walk on the bottom?
A: they just walk. They don't care about water, but they can't swim.

Q: There is a limit to the sales of the different betas?
A: Not sure what this question means, but - there're limited number of copies for Legend package.

Q: I can give all my guest keys to a single friend?
A: Yes, each time beta key expires, game will ask you to enter new serial key to continue to use game

Q: Will you spawn at the same place where you logged off or in a fixed location, like near a safe settlement?
A: You'll spawn exactly where you logged off

Q: Are we going to see animations for weapon switching ?
A: Those are on the list.

Q: Will there be a way to slow the player's breathing while scoped to stabilize the gun?
A: Press SHIFT to hold breath

Q: When the Alpha launches, how many character models will there be to choose from?
A: Probably 4, maybe 5, each with variations for head, upper body and lower body.

Q: Is there a hard copy of the game?
A: No, why ?

Q: Will you improve the animations from War-Inc at all?
A: Hmmm, lets say game is using war inc anims for maybe 20-30% of animations. Rest have been created from scratch. Ones we're borrowing from War Inc are ones we like.

Q: Any love for us War Inc. Loyalists?
A: YES. We're working on package for active War Inc players. It'll probably will include some GC bonus, transfer of some items, free month of the beta gameplay. We still working on that.

Q: Are attachments included in the cash-shop? Because i saw them at the video showcasing the shop but personally I wouldn't like attachments to be cash-shop items.
A: We'll release video with final shop this week, so it'll answer your questions.

Q: The PvP video showed it is relatively easy to kill different players from close range with a decent weapon. Is this more difficult from longer distances? (50-500m) Will we have bulletdrop, steady zooming and recoil to make things more difficult?
A: yes - all of those are present in a game

Q: Will there only be zombies, or will there be animals (Dogs which you can tame) or anything else?
A: We're still discussing about that.

Q: Will you be able to see bandits on the map? If so, why? A: No

Q: Can lock my stronghold server and open it to public freely?
A: Yes

Q: Will we able to make clans?
A: Yes, this functionality is built in a game and will be enabled right before October 31st beta, so alpha players will be able to secure their clan names.

Q: Is it possible to give people the option to rent servers during the alpha
A: Probably not, since our goal is to control this stage of the game as much as possible

Q: Will you loose GC purchased skins or hats on death in normal? If so on hardcore?
A: You don't purchase skins. As for hats or any other items - yes you will loose them. If you don't like it - please don't spend cash currency on anything you're afraid to loose.

Q: Sergey, What do you like to do in your spare time? ( other than gaming ) A: Sleeping. Mostly. If I have spare time between sleeping and working - reading, watching TV, spending time with my son and wife

Q: Because I know it's going to be asked. "When did actual development start on the game?"
A: We started planning this game in late 2010. We started preproduction in mid 2011, entered production by november 2011, we've added new developers to the team and kinda went into overdrive by June 2012. And yes this last thing - trying to get game out asap was heavily influenced by Dayz success.

Q: are we going to get swords/knives/axes/machetes as useable melee weapons
A: Yes, we have pretty big list and going thru it adding stuff to the game.

Q: I want to buy this game, but i am getting a new computer soon. If i buy this game, and then buy the new computer, is there a way to download the game onto my new computer without re-purchasing it?
A: Yes, all you need to play game is your account login. You can download game as many times and as on amny computers as you want. there's no DRM, there's no copy protection and you shouldn't worry about leaving game "behind".

Q: Will you remove the marker that shows where u are on the map in hardcore mode?
A: Probably not. GPS sattelites are still out there working

Q: Why are you guys so awesome? (developers)
A: Because we have AWESOME fans !

Q: is the bullet drop realistic, to the point where I can reliably use the SVD scope for range finding?
A: We're trying, it may not work at start, but this is our goal.

Q: judging by the sales you have had so far, do you think you can cope with the server stress there will be on the 15th?
A: We've already started ordering and installing servers . We'll do our best to predict peak load on game servers, but yes shit can happen

Q: will the character show any change of condition if he is almost dying (black and white screen, problem aiming or something)?
A: Yes, there're some full screen effects.

Q: Will zombies ever be more than just target practice? (judging from YouTube videos..)
A: LOL - i just played new build, and even though I had some guns, I've been killed 7 times in a row by zombies. So answer is YES.

Q: when can i buy the game in germany in a mall
A: Probably not.

Q: Theres little bits of gameplay coming out i can all ready see lots of pvp, will they're be a way to combatant this problem.
A: I think in real life zombies will be much bigger threat and fact that weapons and ammo are rare will prevent people from just playing War Z as a shooter game.

Q: How much control will an owner of a private server have over the in-game world, meaning what options will we have to make that server unique as opposed to a copy of the public game worlds for roleplaying?
A: Actually if you rent GAMEWORLD server - in this case we're trying to make sure that it exactly match experience on other servers.

Q: I want to play the alpha on the 15th, however i want to get some more real in-game non scripted footage before i buy the game first.
A: It's funny that lots of those videos are NOT scripted - even though they look like shitty soap dramas

Q: Does the game to hold enough realism to give the combat the nerve cutting tension arma 2 does?
A: Can't answer that - for me personally Arma and OPFP before game me headache and frustration, not tension or drama. Battlefield 2 was a game that gamve me most of drama in a shooters.

Q: Is it better than DayZ? Remember, YES OR NO!
A: Yes for me personally. I'm sure there'll be folks who will answer NO.

Q: What size is WarZ going to be (in GB)?
A: 2-3GB with 5MB initial download

Q: How are strongholds connected to the "main world" and how do they work with multiple servers?
A: We're working on non intrusive systme right now that allows you to connect servers and "teleport' between worlds naturally.

Q: When someone dies can anyone loot their stuff or only the person that kills them?
A: Anybody can pickup loot.

Q: How are you going to prevent people from hacking the game and give their self weapons?
A: Let say - they can't do that. This is basics of MMO games, this can't just happen. They can do things like wallhacks, maybe aimbots, but basic things like teleporting, item stats modifications, stats modifications, god modes, etc, etc are covered by basic engine design.

Q: Will there be an option to let clanmates add server rent time to an existing server
A: Not at the moment, but we're thinking about how we can enable this feature.

Q: Will there be Australian servers in the alpha and beta?
A: Not for Alpha, probably yes after November release.

Q: Will you be adding a person to person trade window for more secure item trades?
A: We thought about that, actually some of our designers been in huge favor of that system, but at the end we've decided that it will remove any trust element from the trade. Ie - are you trust person enough to deal with him ?

Q: At first we can create one character but if he dies we need to wait 24 hours.
A: Wrong. You have 5 slots UNLOCKED for you - so you can create up to 5 survivors. all free of charge. Also at any time you can delete character and create new one at that slot.

Q: Can we buy Night Vision in Market (Cash Shop) ?
A: No

Q: when will my "6 months server" days will start to drop,
A: When you will rent server.

Q: Will the health system become more complex (broken bones, diseases, bleeding,
A; Yes - we have topic on forums dedicated to our plans on health system.

Q: What's about server overload on Oct 15 ?
A: I forgot to answer this last time and I think this is very important question. There's two
things to worry about - first of all downloads. This one is easy - we're using very reliable and fast CDN
services, so we don't worry about that at all. We've been able to handle over 100K downloads in a first day before. Second
thing is gameplay servers. We've already placed order for 30 game servers, each capable on handling around 1000 users at same time.
Normally it's expected that only around 10-20% of all users will be playing game at same time, so this means that we have some safety net.
Still there's a chance that we're severely underestimated your interest in a game, and we'll have denial of service situations. If this is
going to happen please know we'll do everything to fix this ASAP.

Q: Will there be a wipe after alpha (oct 30>31) or not?
A: No.

Q: Can you rent any other type of server besides "Stronghold" servers?
A: You can rent either gameworld servers ( like normal game servers ) or smaller stronghold servers.

Q: ring our 15 days in alpha version, will we be able to find loads of weapons and atachments to see how they work?
A: Nope, you won't find "loads" of anything. You'll have slightly more generous spawn rates than we plan for beta though.

Q:will players be able to mod the game client? with out getting banned
A: No, there's no modding for The War Z - same rule as for any online game.

Q: If we purchase access to the Alpha or Beta, are we allowed to post gameplay on Youtube?
A: We've answered that before, just just to repeat - you won't be able to post anything about game until end of embargo period - probably first week of November.

Q: will you still be able to free roam without joining for objectives ?
A: Yes, in fact there'll be no objectives given to you unless you'll to looking for them.

Q: how can I make money to buy things in the marketplace?
A: First you'll be able to find money ina world. Second other players may reward you with money for performing missions for them. Third - hunt down notorious bandits from "Most Wanted" list. Last but not least - hunt special mutated zombies, extract their stem cells and sell for cash in safe settlements.

Q: What are the minimum slots for a server?
A: 30

Q: What we can build in the Stronghold exactly ?
A:

Q: Is there any plan on adding aircraft (helicopters) to the game?
A: No.

Q: How will I be able to change FOV(field of view) in WarZ?
A: Options menu.

Q: If you kill someone in self defense who isn't a bandit will you still lose reputation?
A: Unfortunately there's no way reliable detect "self defense" kill, so you'll lose reputation, unless of course you going to kill bandit - in this case your reputation score will increase.

Q: Will you ever release a PvE only Server/server options?
A: No.

Q: Are the stem cell zombies still going to be implemented into the game.
A: yes, they're available in a game.

Q: Will I have access to the final game if I buy the pioneer version? Thank you.
A: Whatever version you're buying - you're buying GAME. Early access to Alpha or Beta is a part of playing game.

Q: Are there randomized spawns so people don't camp the spawn?
A: Yes.

Q: Will there be more than two types of zombie example fat, muscle,
A: Yes, right now we have around 7 zombie types in a work.

Q: Can the 48-hr access codes be activated after the 31st, IE. November 5th for example?
A: Yes. Anytime after October 31st.

Q: If you die in both modes will you loose your stuff?
A: Yes

Q: With regards to the buildings in the maps, what sort of percentage of them are accessible?
A: Around 30% I think, with more added as we go.

-last edited today LOLOL JK 2-10-2012

Last edited by markdead; 2012-11-03 at 02:31 PM.
Reason: New information added plus a map render!

That was the original thread with nearly 300 replies. However, since I do not mod this forum I will contact someone to see if we can get a thread merger of some sort since you will be at least updating the OP unlike the last thread.

News update! please note this will be updated to the OP aswell, reason for doing it in here is that so you know what the new information is.

The following picture has been released, and will give you a small idea of how the first map "Colorado" will look like, This map size is pretty comfortable for up to 130+ players. At 200+ players, you'll be able to meet other players every 15-20 minutes of playing game.

This screenshot shows pretty much 90% of the map. distance from the camera to far mountains in the center of the screen is around 11-13km ( 6.6 to 7.8 US miles ). All area except for snow peak mountains on the edge of the map are playable. Ie you're getting around 160-170km of playable terrain comparing to 225 sql km of Chernorus ( keep in mind that large chunk of chernorus map is a sea ).

For all those people that will respond with "The map is so small" it takes 2-3 hours to traverse a map of 13 km long (if walking at a normal speed). So don't worry, I'm sure it will be good.

All I see is tree- and the wood for the tree and a few buildings, where are the Citiesand skyscrapers the massive expanse of water with skyscrapers in the foreground - the suburbs of streets and houses -

Colorado is the first map they are releasing for "player use" meaning they are probably working on the other maps, as well as said in the topic above, the "jungle" you see there is roughly 90% of the map, it could very well be that the last 10% is city, however none of this is confirmed yet. ( that the last 10% is city ) and considering the beta is starting this September, i see no real reason for them to rush out maps when the rest of the game mechanics ain't working yet.

PS crop!!! you nab!

(The screenshot you linked of the area where players can play is marked by the white snowtop mountains, everything in between is usable, think as if it all takes place in a valley sort of thing)

News update! please note this will be updated to the OP aswell, reason for doing it in here is that so you know what the new information is.

The developers saw a massive QQ fest going on, so they decided to show the last 10% of the map, picture below!

Three cities are shown here - in a lower right part of the image there is a city you've seen in alpha gameplay trailer. Center top of the screen - one of the largest cities on this map - mostly highrises. So its starting to look better and better, and currently it looks like its a small bunch of cities/towns surrounded by jungle and mountains where you can find shelter etc.

That they copied DayZ - they didnt start making this game 2 years ago, and its just a cash in.

Also that looks nothing like the jpegs they released of the massive city

Why do people keep making excuses for this game

And they are some damn tall tree - maybe to hide the terrible draw distance - static photo are ok but lets see the same image running in Real time

There is an alpha video of the game engine running in real time.

This game is based off of World War Z, which is a book. The game idea and production started before DayZ... unless you expect me to believe that all of this was done within the past 6 months.

If you watch the video, you can clearly see the part of the city they are standing in. You can see the highway that his teammate was standing on as a vantage point. Clearly you have nothing to add to this discussion other than they "copied another game" which, believe it or not, happens all the time in this game industry even if it were true.

This game is based off of World War Z, which is a book. The game idea and production started before DayZ... unless you expect me to believe that all of this was done within the past 6 months.

If you watch the video, you can clearly see the part of the city they are standing in. You can see the highway that his teammate was standing on as a vantage point. Clearly you have nothing to add to this discussion other than they "copied another game" which, believe it or not, happens all the time in this game industry even if it were true.

All of this is true.

@Nonameme, I can only assume you play DayZ and your just coming here to bash upon a game, from what i've seen of this game so far it has been in development for sometime and there we're zombie mods before Dayz in many other games, and incase you didn't know the zombie genre is booming with the success of The walking dead.